July 25, 2006
For Better Or For Worse - Is VoIP Quality Decreasing?
Brix Networks, a company who makes monitoring tools to test VoIP networks, says that data collected on their TestYourVoIP website indicates that users are rating 20 percent of nearly a million calls tested as being of poor quality. This data spans 18 months.
My own experience is not substantial, but I say quality is getting better, at least in newer softVoIP clients. Over a year ago, I VoIPed a friend using MSN Messenger, which he was also using. The call quality was terrible. Since then, I've either used or briefly tested Jajah, Skype, and Talqer, all on the same laptop, headphones, and cheapo $1 microphone. Talqer had the best call quality. And I'm using a wireless connection. Direct broadband connections would probably offer the best quality.
It is of course to Brix' advantage to publish such disappointing findings. And if I've understood the BusinessWire press release correctly, the TestYourVoIP service is really measuring broadband quality, not actual calls. So the data might in fact be misleading, considering that there are a lot of other factors to consider in VoIP call quality testing.
What's your experience? Are you finding better quality? If you want to test your VoIP, try Brix Network's Google Gadget, which requires you to have Google Desktop Version 4 or higher.
Sources: ComputerWorld, BusinessWire [via FierceVoIP]
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